


Something Has Got to Give

by Prism0467 (marley_station)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Office, Anal Sex, Angst, Begging, Boss/Employee Relationship, Co-workers, Drinking & Talking, Explicit Language, F/M, Fingering, Flirting, Gen, Hand Jobs, Humor, Kissing, Lemon, M/M, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Masturbation, Mirror Sex, Morning After, NC-17, Nudity, One-Sided Relationship, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 03:02:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marley_station/pseuds/Prism0467
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young. Single. Smart. Beautiful. Repressed.  Why?  Something has got to give.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something Has Got to Give

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning** : un-beta'd
> 
>  **Sharpie™** is a product and registered trademark of Newell Rubbermaid. I make no claims.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> **NOTE: THIS WORK OF FANFICTION WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED TO ADULTFANFICTION.NET ON 13 MAY 2009.**

“Fuck!” Neji Hyuuga expressed emphatically as he closed his cell phone and set it down on his desk.   
  
He’d taken his car in for regular service the day before, expecting to be able to pick it up at the end of the day. He hadn’t anticipated being told that repairs were required and that he would need to leave his car at the garage for an estimate. Then they’d called from the garage today to inform him that the repairs would cost him three more days apart from his baby and a whopping $1150. It was nothing short of extortion! Neji knew he could take it to a different garage to get another estimate, but that would cost him even more time apart from his car, his baby, his most prized possession.  
  
Son of a bitch! For the past three weeks  _nothing_  seemed to be going smoothly in the Hyuuga’s life. Work had come to resemble an obstacle course. Lately his friends seemed to be ditching him for other interests and he’d been on the outs with Gaara, his regular booty call. Everything was stressful and there had been no outlet. Frustration didn’t even begin to describe what he felt at that moment.  
  
Neji tucked a strand of his dark brown hair behind his ear and sighed. He’d deal with this issue like he’d been dealing with the others: he’d sit in his office, randomly shout obscenities and pull at his hair before going into the bathroom to beat off in a stall. Then he’d go eat something with absolutely no nutritional value for lunch before returning to his desk to field more stupid obstacles. Then he’d go home to eat something else with no nutritional value for dinner. For dessert, he’d beat off again in the shower. Then he’d go to bed—alone.  
  
This shouldn’t have been his life.  
  
He got up from his desk and walked out of his office with a sigh, intent on trumping his fastest masturbation time and hoping he could at least count that as a success.  
  
He was not aware of a pair of lazy eyes following his movements.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru watched his supervisor walk out of his office and past his cubicle, no doubt on his way to the men’s room to masturbate for the first time that day.   
  
He looked at his watch, noting the time. Neji didn’t normally start this early. Things must have been even more haywire than usual.  
  
Shikamaru shook his head. He felt sorry for his boss. Here was this sexy, intelligent, single, childless man, with the kind of runway model looks someone would kill for, whom for at least the past two weeks seemed to have an ever-enlarging black cloud looming above his head.   
  
Shikamaru knew that work was at least part of the problem. Lately their bosses seemed to be on a track that simply defied logic, asking for everything from the amusing to the bizarre to the outright impossible. As a manager, it had to be contributing to Neji’s slow but sure descent into batshit insanity.  
  
He wondered why Neji continued to use a method of relieving his stress was clearly no longer working for him.  
  
What did Neji think about while he masturbated? Did he ever get laid? Shikamaru was curious. He suspected that Neji was at least bisexual, thanks to clues his boss had provided during arbitrary conversations and certain tendencies that a man would only pick up on if he wasn’t straight.  
  
That was a category into which Shikamaru definitely fell.  
  
Shikamaru was more than a little attracted to his boss, not that he’d ever let on. Workplace trysts were a definite no-no in his book. Besides, in the past year since they’d begun working together he’d never gotten an indication that Neji was interested.  
  
It was too bad. Shikamaru would love to have been able to help Neji decompress.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The tone signaling incoming e-mail pulled Shikamaru from his thoughts. He opened the e-mail and read it. Haku, one of his colleagues, was organizing another happy hour.  
  
He looked up at the long-legged, short-haired brunette who sat in the cubicle across from him.  
  
“Zabuza”, he called.  
  
His colleague looked up from his computer’s monitor, raising his eyebrows in response.  
  
“Haku is organizing another after-hours get-together. You in?” Shikamaru asked.  
  
Zabuza nodded without hesitation. Haku made the invitation, and Shikamaru was accepting. It was a no-brainer. Besides, it wasn’t as if he had lots of other things to do when he wasn’t at work.  
  
“Cool”, Shikamaru responded, smiling. If Zabuza was going to be there, it meant that Shikamaru could drink as much as he wanted. He knew his friend would give him a safe ride home if he needed it.  
  
“Where are we going this time?” Rock Lee, another of their colleagues who’d received the e-mail asked.  
  
“You’re not going anywhere”, Tenten, a colleague who sat in the cubicle across from him responded. “Last time you had a drink with us we all spent the night in jail!”  
  
“I told you that was a fluke!” Lee replied in annoyance. “I forgot that I had taken medication earlier that day.”  
  
Tenten snorted. “Yeah, let that be a lesson to us all never to mix Ritalin with alcohol”, she mocked.  
  
Shikamaru and Zabuza laughed.  
  
Lee crossed his arms. “Very funny, Tenten”, he replied. “Clearly you missed your calling in stand-up comedy.”  
  
“You’re just pissed off because I’m right”, she answered.  
  
 _Bitch._  
  
Rock Lee pouted silently. Tenten was a luscious young software engineer, but she was a real smartass who had teased him since the day they met. It was annoyingly reminiscent of his high school days.  
  
He knew what the problem was—everyone did. And one of these days, he planned to take her someplace private to solve it.  
  
“You guys want to do Patterson’s again?” Shikamaru asked to the general vicinity.  
  
Zabuza nodded quickly, not caring where they went.  
  
“That bar across from the academy where all the prep students go to get wasted?” Tenten asked, making a face.  
  
“That’s because their happy hour is the best in town”, Shikamaru responded. “Where else can you get fried shrimp and fifty-cent domestic for two hours?”  
  
“Fine, but I’m bringing pepper spray”, Tenten told him. “And you guys will have to stay close. The chances of getting a drink spiked with a date rape drug increases dramatically in a place selling fifty-cent domestic for two hours.”  
  
“Got you covered, Tenten”, Zabuza said, and Tenten nodded in understanding.   
  
Zabuza was their self-proclaimed all-in-one bouncer, bodyguard and complaint department. If anyone else had a problem with someone from their group during their after-work gatherings, he was the man you had to talk to about it first. At six feet, three inches with a strong, hard body courtesy of his college wrestling days, the complaints were usually settled quickly, and always in their favor.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
“Rock Lee, do you need a ride?” Neji heard Shikamaru ask.  
  
Neji had emerged from the bathroom more frustrated that he hadn’t beaten his personal best (no pun intended) and overheard his team making plans to meet after work.   
  
How he envied them. His own peers had paired off and were now too busy doing ‘couple things’ to spend any time with him lately, the fascists.  
  
He  _could_  tag along with them. He was only a couple of years older than the oldest person who worked for him, after all. Workplace bureaucracy was affecting all of them, so if he decided to cry into a beer or two, he’d be able to count it as a teambuilding exercise.  
  
Besides, he had one hell of a thing for Shikamaru. That one was a looker with a sharp mind and an ass that looked like it had been carved out of marble! He would  _love_  to have a shot at that…  
  
Unfortunately, though Neji was pretty sure that Shikamaru batted for his team, he’d never seen a sign of interest from the younger man.  
  
It was just as well. Neji was Shikamaru’s boss, and fooling around with a subordinate was just crazy.  
  
Neji walked past the group of cubicles where his team sat and back into his office, wondering what obstacle was waiting for him next.  
  
He was not aware that lazy eyes had again followed his movements.  
  
Shikamaru checked at his watch. It had taken Neji much longer to finish this time.  
  
Seriously, how could a man like Neji be so repressed?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Neji heard the familiar sounds of his team leaving for the day at 4:30.   
  
He sighed, resolved to try to ignore his longing and focused on tying up the day’s loose ends.  
  
Neji was staring at his computer’s monitor, furiously typing e-mail when he heard a soft knock on his office door.   
  
He looked up to find Shikamaru and Rock Lee standing in the doorway. He could swear the skinny one’s eyebrows were actually  _moving._  
  
“Yes”, he deadpanned, trying not to betray how freaked out he was.  
  
“Yeah”, Shikamaru began, “a few of us are going to Patterson’s in Kage Square for happy hour. Would you like to join us?”  
  
 _Would I?_  Neji thought to himself.  _You bet your sweet ass I would. I’d like to come, sit next to you and grope you shamelessly, all the while telling you whatever the fucking hell it would take to get you to come home with me and let me bend you over my furniture a few times._  
  
“I can’t”, he deadpanned instead, choking back his feelings. “I have work. But thank you for offering.”  
  
He pasted a patently fake smile on before returning his eyes to the e-mail on his monitor.  
  
It was just as well.  
  
“Well, if that changes, you know where to find us”, Shikamaru offered.  
  
Neji didn’t respond, not that either man was surprised.  
  
Rock Lee looked at Shikamaru. He had convinced his colleague to invite their boss to come along with them after Shikamaru commented on how stressed he seemed, even though previous invitations to Neji to accompany them had been met with the same response.  
  
Shikamaru didn’t seem disappointed as they walked away, but Rock Lee knew he was. He knew his friend and colleague had been harboring a secret crush on their team lead since the day the man had come to work for the company, even though Shikamaru had never spoken a word about it.  
  
It was the dance of the unrequited affection, and Rock Lee knew it well.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The changing shadows against the wall finally caused Neji to look up from his monitor. By the clock on his desk it was nearly 6PM. He’d done all he could do for the day. It was time for the requisite cab ride home for a nutritionally bankrupt meal and a five-finger salute to his solitude.  
  
The thought made him groan.  
  
Neji could have kicked himself. His team had extended him an invitation to drink with them tonight--In person, no less! He could count that as a success, maybe the only one he’d had in three weeks. Of course, he’d probably jinxed himself for all eternity when turned them down.  
  
He executed his daily routine of saving his files, closing the applications and shutting down his computer. He gathered his things and, with heavy feet, left the building.  
  
Neji pondered his evening as he waited for a cab. He could swallow his pride and call Gaara. It had been three weeks since they’d seen each other, and God knew Neji needed to get some.  
  
Unfortunately, their last conversation had been rather unpleasant. Neji wasn’t sure even abject begging would get him laid after that. Gaara was hardly the type who had to sit home for lack of companionship.  
  
The bizarre thing was, neither was Neji. At least, not so he thought.  
  
So why was he on his way home to be alone?   
  
He was young, intelligent, good-looking, single, and earned a great living. He should be out, mixing it up, enjoying his life. When did he become such an uptight loser?  
  
Neji was stunned by the realization that the only thing he had to look forward to was driving his car and his daily masturbation sessions. And now, he didn’t even have his car! He was willing to bet that bastard mechanic was soaking him for unneeded repairs. He would love to march up to that guy right now, snatch his car key from him and tell him to go fuck himself. Yeah! Then, he’d get into his car, his precious baby with its lush interior that was made just for him, and drive over to wherever his team was, drag that Shikamaru out of there caveman-style, toss him into his car, drive him home and fuck him sideways until the wee hours!   
  
And then—  
  
Neji shook his head. What was he doing? How had he allowed his young life to become this long, debilitating series of ‘can’ts’ and ‘have-to’s’?  
  
The squeaking of brakes in front of him brought Neji out of his thoughts. He opened the back door of the cab and got inside.  
  
“Where to?” the driver asked.  
  
Neji paused, thinking it was about time to get some ‘cans’ and ‘want-to’s’ again.  
  
He looked at the driver. “Patterson’s in Kage Square”, he heard himself say.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Patterson’s Pub was already on its way to being a madhouse when Neji walked in. He stood near the door and scanned the crowd in search of familiar faces. He didn’t find any. Had they all gone?   
  
He decided to walk further inside to get a closer look. He was cognizant of the curious looks he was getting from both males and females. Surely they’d seen a man with hair as long as his wearing a tie before!   
  
He thought he saw someone who looked like someone from work walking through the crowd. He began to move in that direction to confirm the sighting when someone else stepped in front of him, blocking his path.  
  
“Hey there!” came the stupidly happy greeting. A very young woman with wavy brown shoulder-length hair and blue eyes cradling a beer against her shoulder stood in front of him smiling. Neji did not miss the fine sheen of sweat on her face. She was already on her way to being tanked, and it wasn’t even 7PM.  
  
“If you need a seat, there’s one right here”, she offered, gesturing to the table next to her where a mixed bag of who were more than likely prep students from the academy sat.   
  
Neji followed the gesture with his eyes and frowned. They were all smiling at him expectantly.  
  
Seriously, what the fuck did they want with him?  
  
“Sorry, I have other plans”, he told her.  _Like writing my name across a certain software engineer’s ass with a Sharpie™._  
  
“Are you  _sure_  we can’t change your mind?” she pressed in a loud voice, pushing her chest forward for emphasis.  
  
Neji actually visibly blanched. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He couldn’t believe women actually still did that. How much had she had to drink?  
  
Neji opened his mouth to inform the woman that he probably gave better head than she did when someone directly behind him spoke.  
  
“He’s busy”, a booming voice declared in a no-nonsense monotone above his head.  
  
The young woman looked up. So did her companions at their table.  
  
Slowly, after the shudder subsided, Neji looked up over his shoulder.  
  
Zabuza Momochi was standing there. Zabuza, the hot software engineer on his team who hardly spoke and was built like a redwood tree, the one who always sat next to Shikamaru during their team meetings. The one he thought he saw flirting with Haku, the tiny androgynous pretty boy who worked in finance, in the parking lot of the office building at lunchtime one day.  
  
What was  _his_  story? Neji hadn’t had him pegged for even as much as bi-curious. Of course, Zabuza hardly did anything that was indicative of anything. Except…he always sat with Shikamaru during the meetings.  
  
Were he and Shikamaru more than just colleagues?  
  
Neji pasted on another patently fake smile for Zabuza, who didn’t look at all surprised to see him standing there. Then again, surprise didn’t seem to be within Zabuza’s range.  
  
“We’re over here”, he informed Neji, jerking his head in the direction of their table.  
  
 _Rescued. Success._  
  
Neji looked back at the woman. “Excuse me”, he said before he turned to follow Zabuza through the crowd.  
  
Neji approached their booth with sure steps. He stopped when Zabuza sat down, aware of all eyes on him.  
  
A voice in his head prompted him to greet his team.  
  
“Hello all”, he spoke, his patently fake smile in place.  
  
Zabuza, Shikamaru and Rock Lee sat on one side of the booth, while Haku and Tenten sat across from them on the other. The table was already boasting several beer bottles and a few empty plates.  
  
“Have a seat!” Haku greeted, scooting to his right to give Neji room to sit down.  
  
Neji looked at him and realized that the someone he saw in the crowd earlier had been Haku.  
  
“Thank you”, Neji responded and sat, clearing his throat nervously.  
  
“We’re glad you could make it”, Shikamaru said with a smirk.  
  
Neji’s eyes met Shikamaru’s, and Neji was stunned. The younger man looked so relaxed sitting there with a bottle of beer in his hand. Neji adored the way the light from the lamp above the table glinted off the small hoop earring in Shikamaru’s left ear. It made Neji want to bite the damn thing. It looked so yummy…  
  
That’s when Neji realized that Zabuza and Shikamaru were sitting together. Again.  
  
 _God dammit._  
  
“Thank you for inviting me”, he told him before looking away, hoping his expression did not reveal his frustration.  
  
The sound of a full bottle of beer being placed in front of Neji made him look up.  
  
“To get you started”, Zabuza told him.  
  
Neji nodded while nervously rubbing his hands together in his lap. “Ah, yes. Thank you.”  
  
“Domestic is fifty cents a bottle and there’s fried shrimp and chicken wings until seven”, Tenten supplied.  
  
“We should get another round”, Shikamaru stated. “It’s nearly seven.”  
  
Without a word, Zabuza got up and made his way to the bar.  
  
Neji cast another glance at Shikamaru, who was sipping his beer. He decided he needed to get up and move around before the tension made him do something stupid, like challenge Zabuza to an arm-wrestling match for Shikamaru’s honor.  
  
“Why don’t I get us some food?” Neji volunteered. “I’m a little hungry myself.”  
  
He stood up without waiting for an answer and slid out of the booth.  
  
“I’ll go with you!” Haku announced, sliding out behind him.  
  
The three people who remained at the table watched as their companions walked off.  
  
“Amazing”, Tenten proclaimed, sipping her beer. “We must have invited him to drink with us a dozen times and he finally cracked. Wonder what did it?”  
  
“I do not know, but something did”, Rock Lee responded. “Look at him, his anxiety is like a force field around him!”  
  
“You’d think a guy that hot and that smart would have it easier”, Tenten reasoned.  
  
Shikamaru took a sip of his beer.  
  
“I don’t know about that, everybody’s got issues. What I do know is that Neji needs to unwind. I say we make it our mission tonight to see that he does just that”, he told his friends.  
  
“Agreed”, Rock Lee responded, and Tenten nodded.  
  
The three of them raised their beers in the air in salute, and then drank in unison.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru, Tenten and Rock Lee cleared the empty bottles from the table for Zabuza, who made two trips to the bar for a total of 18 beers consisting of three different domestic brands.  
  
Neji and Haku returned to the table with plates piled high with fried shrimp and chicken wings in each hand.  
  
The stage, as it were, was set.  
  
And so Shikamaru imposed a rule that no one discuss work.   
  
Neji tried to ignore the surge of panic that rose in him. Work was what he and his peers always discussed when they were together. As far as he knew it was the only thing he had in common with his team—well, except the fact that he and Shikamaru both liked boys.  
  
But they couldn’t talk about that—at least, not in front of Zabuza.  
  
Neji was determined, however, that they  _would_  talk about it—and soon.  
  
In the meantime, he decided he would enjoy the evening with his team and just let things happen.  
  
Haku suggested a series of fun drinking games resulted in the annihilation of a dozen beers and six shots. After that, they mostly sat, ate and talked. They talked about college, clothes, movies, motorcycles, the weather, money and even their parents.  
  
Neji was glad he had decided to come. He realized just how much he missed being out like this, and how much he’d been holding himself back. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so at ease.  
  
He was also beginning to realize just how special his team was, too. He was very impressed by all of them.  
  
In a way, it  _had_  become a teambuilding exercise.  
  
He noted to himself, though, how  _no one_  brought up the subject of sex or relationships.  
  
 _Hmph.  
  
Interesting._  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
“Did anyone here play cricket in college besides me?” Neji asked as he raised his hand in the air.  
  
“I played soccer”, Rock Lee responded.  
  
“I fenced”, Tenten chimed in.  
  
“Touché”, Neji responded, smiling at the woman.  
  
“I wrestled”, Zabuza announced as he drank his beer.  
  
Neji’s brows furrowed. “A tall guy like you? Why not basketball?” he asked.  
  
Zabuza looked at his boss. “Because the basketball coach was a pervert and I have a short temper.”  
  
Neji made a face. “Fair enough”.  
  
He looked at Haku then. “What about you, Haku?” he asked.  
  
Haku set down his beer. “I wasn’t an athlete like you guys.  _I_  was a skater boy”, he declared with a tipsy chuckle. “I was also a drama geek.”  
  
Rock Lee’s face lit up. “Me too!” he exclaimed, raising his hand.  
  
Haku high-fived him, and Tenten laughed.  
  
“It figures you would be the guy who would mold out your junk in a pair of tights”, she mocked Lee. “Was that the popular method of trying to lose one’s virginity at your high school, Lee?”  
  
“For your information, that is precisely the reason why I no longer have mine”, Lee responded.  
  
“Oh, really? What was his name?” Tenten asked him. “Or does he live in Canada?” Everyone at the table snickered in response.  
  
Lee smirked. “What is the matter, Tenten? Were you hoping to be the one to get my cherry?” he asked.  
  
Tenten laughed dramatically. “In your dreams”, she responded.  
  
“More like in yours”, Lee parried. “But I am willing to accommodate you if you ask me nicely.”  
  
Shikamaru quirked a brow. This was getting interesting.  
  
“As if I would ever!” Tenten exclaimed, downing the rest of her beer and setting the empty bottle on the table. She was suddenly aware of all eyes at the table on her. “What?” she asked.  
  
“Scared, Tenten?” Lee answered. “I am on to you. You act like a bitch to me to hide the fact that you want me so much. Why not drop the act? Let me take you back to my place. I will knock the edge off and then some.”  
  
Tenten looked stunned. “With  _what,_  someone else’s body and a how-to guide?”  
  
“Oh, please”, Lee interjected. “You and I both know I have the tool to handle the job. A person would have to be blind not to know. That is your problem. You are afraid the ugly, skinny geek with the bowl haircut is going to show you a new way, and you might like it a little too much.”  
  
“That’s bullshit!” Tenten shrieked.  
  
“Then call my bluff”, Lee responded.  
  
Lee wasn’t drunk, but the drinks had relaxed him, and now he was on a roll. He was fed up with holding back. He was determined to fuck Tenten until she was begging for mercy in her loudest voice. It would be her penance--and their pleasure.  
  
“Come on, Tenten. What have you got to lose?”  
  
“Are you kidding? Start with the contents of my stomach.”  
  
Rock Lee shook his head. “There you go again. I swear your denial is a living breathing beast. It is tragic to be so sexy and so repressed at the same time. How can you stand it?”  
  
Tenten trained a hard scowl on the man in front of her. “What the  _fuck_  would you know about it?!” she all but screamed. “You know, it’s good that you’re here because now I can tell you just how pathetic I think you are, you—pipsqueak! You were one of those annoying boys in high school who was always smiling at the pretty girls hoping one of them would take pity on you and smile back! And I’ve got news for you, Lee. The size of your dick hasn’t changed a damn thing. Now you’re just a hyperactive man-boy hanging out with the cool people from work as some form of sick sad compensation. And it will be a cold day in hell when I let a pathetic geek like you into my pants!”  
  
Tenten’s words were harsh, but Lee was undeterred. He reached across the table, grabbing Tenten by the shoulders and yanking her forward, sealing their lips together in a blazing kiss.  
  
“Whammph—“ she mumbled the second before she felt Rock Lee’s tongue invading her mouth. It was her intent to push him away, but she quickly found that tongue to be a very gifted one, expertly massaging her own into submission. It was wreaking havoc on her already pickled mind, to say nothing of what it was doing to other parts of her body. She moaned and braced her hands against the table as she leaned in further, helpless against her need for more of that mouth, of that kiss, of that taste, of that sensation…  
  
It  _was_  what she wanted. God help her, from the moment she laid eyes on that unnatural bulge in the man’s pants she couldn’t help but be curious and now…she wanted it. All of it.  
  
Everyone else at the table looked on in wide-eyed silence.  
  
It was Lee who broke the kiss and leaned back, watching Tenten with lusty eyes. She was flushed and panting, her lips were swollen, and she looked…confused.  
  
She was perfect.  
  
“Earth to Tenten”, someone mumbled.  
  
Tenten looked around the table. They were all looking at her. What had just happened? What was she  _doing?_  
  
She reached across the table and slapped Lee hard.  
  
His head jerked from the impact, but he did not speak.  
  
Tenten closed her eyes. Feelings of shock, lust and shame were swallowing her whole. Her palm was stinging.  
  
She could still taste Lee in her mouth.  
  
She furrowed her brows and looked down, still a little breathless. “I think…I’d better go”, she stated.  
  
“I will drive you home”, Lee declared.  
  
She scowled at him again. “Stay away from me!” she hissed.  
  
Haku and Neji scooted over and got up to let Tenten out. Tenten stumbled as she stood, taking one last look at Lee before turning and moving through the crowd.  
  
“Let me out”, Lee ordered.  
  
Shikamaru and Zabuza quickly complied.  
  
“Be careful, Lee” Shikamaru told him.  
  
Lee looked at his friend. “Do not worry”, he responded. “I will see you all tomorrow.”  
  
He turned and quickly made his way through the crowd and out of the bar.  
  
“Wow”, Neji exclaimed, surprised. “Have they been hot for each other all this time?”  
  
“You don’t know the half of it”, Shikamaru responded. “It’s ridiculous.”  
  
“Twenty bucks says he gets whiskey dick and then can’t follow through”, Haku declared.  
  
“Come on, Haku, he hasn’t drunk anywhere near the volume of alcohol  _he_  would need for that”, Shikamaru replied.  
  
“Maybe not”, the small man responded, “but you know how it goes when you talk tall, it’s Murphy’s Law.”  
  
“That isn’t Murphy’s Law, it’s just dumb luck”, Zabuza clarified in a voice that betrayed a bit of knowledge on the subject.  
  
“Yes, well he’ll do fine. There’s no such thing as whiskey  _mouth”_ , Neji concluded, and they all laughed.  
  
He looked at Shikamaru with determined eyes then. “You know Shikamaru, in all the melee we never got to hear what your sport was in high school.”  
  
Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, stunned that Neji even remembered what they were talking about before Lee and Tenten’s sexually-charged tangent.  
  
“I, uh, I was a swimmer”, he replied.  
  
Shikamaru took a sip of his beer. “And a gymnast.”  
  
 _Oh dear God in Heaven._  
  
Neji leaned his head against his hand, trying like hell to seem unaffected as untold thoughts raced through his mind.  
  
“So you rocked your junk in tights too”, he quipped, blinking slowly. “Interesting.”  
  
 _Oh dear God in Heaven._  
  
Shikamaru quirked a brow. “Is it?” he asked, praying he had suitably disguised any hope in his voice.  
  
 _Whoa._  Haku’s eyes grew wide. Sexual tension suddenly sprang from out of nowhere between those two. Haku noticed Neji’s eyes watching Shikamaru and Shikamaru coyly looking away and his mouth gaped. Where had that come from?  
  
He was delighted, though. Now he had a suitable excuse for leaving with Zabuza. He knew the big man would have stayed with Shikamaru until the last moment.   
  
Haku knew that Shikamaru only liked boys. He also knew that Shikamaru wasn’t interested in Zabuza that way. They were friends and colleagues, nothing more.  
  
Zabuza only liked girls, and everyone knew it. But that didn’t matter to Haku. He still wanted him. Zabuza was big and powerful and smart and sexy and gentle and kind and loyal. He was always taking care of everyone else.  
  
Haku wanted to be the one who took care of Zabuza.  
  
“Hey, you know”, he began, looking at his watch, “I’m beat. I’d better go if I’m going to make it to the office in the morning. Any chance I could get a ride with you, Z?”  
  
Zabuza looked at Shikamaru.   
  
“Okay with you?” he asked.  
  
“Yeah, I’m okay to drive”, Shikamaru responded, looking at his friend. “You guys go on. I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
 _Oh no you won’t,_  Neji thought to himself.  
  
His opportunity was at hand. Shikamaru was a good as violated.  
  
 _I don’t even have to arm-wrestle the beefy one now. I’ll have to remember to thank the he-male for that._  
  
Neji slid out of the booth and got up. Haku was right behind him, standing up next to the taller man.  
  
Zabuza finally stood, looking purposefully at his boss before looking at Haku.  
  
“Let’s go”, he told the small man.  
  
“’Night, Shikamaru”, Haku said, aiming amused eyes at both men before turning and leaving with Zabuza.  
  
Neji watched the large man leave and suppressed his urge to take the seat he had vacated, resuming his seat across from Shikamaru instead.


	2. The Point of This Whole Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N** : This chapter has fan art. [Go look](http://crazyaanglover.deviantart.com/art/Call-You-Back-124925874)! **crazyaanglover** of **deviantART** did that. She is a goddess.
> 
> Thanks to **pammypam93** of **Fanfiction.net** for her help with some of the details.

Neji was finally alone with Shikamaru. Perfect. Now they would have ‘the talk’.  
  
“I think I get it now”, Neji declared, watching his quarry closely from across their booth.  
  
“Get what?” Shikamaru asked.  
  
“Why no one on this team touched the subject of sex or relationships the entire time we were all here together.”  
  
Shikamaru smirked. “The team also includes you doesn’t it?” he asked.  
  
Neji smirked in response. “Yes, yes it does.”  
  
“So what’s your story?” Shikamaru asked.  
  
“That depends”, Neji responded. “Are you asking because I brought it up, or because you’re genuinely interested?”  
  
Shikamaru took a chance. “Both.”  
  
 _Bonus._  
  
“I’m single”, Neji told him, smiling. “Though I wasn’t until three weeks ago.”  
  
“What happened?” Shikamaru asked.  
  
“You know, until tonight I wasn’t sure. I guess I just bored the shit out of the guy.”  
  
Shikamaru chuckled. “At your worst I don’t think anyone would find you boring, Neji.”  
  
Neji shook his head. “You’re very kind, Shikamaru, but even  _I_  find me boring.”  
  
He paused. “I don’t know what happened to me. Somewhere along the way I lost myself.”  
  
He leaned in. “Thank you very much for inviting me tonight”, he told Shikamaru.  
  
“Well, to be honest it was Lee’s idea”, Shikamaru responded.  
  
“Then I’ll have to thank him when I see him again.”  
  
Neji leaned his head against his hand again. “So tell me your story. How come a guy like you isn’t surrounded by a harem?”  
  
Shikamaru chuckled, honestly taken aback. “What exactly do you think this is?”  
  
“If you’re single, a grave miscarriage of justice”, Neji answered. “You look like the type who has to carry a tazer to keep them away.”  
  
Shikamaru thought he might actually blush. “Well, thank you, that’s kind of you to say, while at the same time nowhere near my reality.”  
  
“So enlighten me”, Neji said.  
  
Shikamaru clasped his hands together on the table. “I had a guy. It didn’t work out. The end.”  
  
“Oh come on, you can do better than that. What happened? Was he jealous of all the attention you were getting?”  
  
Shikamaru made a face. “What makes you think I deserve that kind of attention?”  
  
Neji looked insulted. “Are you kidding? Have you seen your ass lately? It looks like it was carved out of stone.”  
  
Shikamaru blushed. He was used to the stares whenever he worked out, but no one paid him those types of compliments anymore. And to have received them from his boss, his crush of all people…  
  
He looked coyly at Neji. “I could say the same about you.”  
  
“No you couldn’t”, Neji countered quickly, enjoying his view of a blushing Shikamaru. “My ass looks like it was made from a goose-down pillow. I haven’t seen my cricket-era glutes since 2005.”  
  
Shikamaru laughed out loud. His boss was amazing. He could hardly believe he was the same buttoned-up guy who arrived only three hours before.  
  
“So what was the reason it didn’t work out?” Neji pressed.  
  
Shikamaru made a face. “I caught him cheating.”  
  
“Bullshit”, Neji responded.  
  
“It’s true. I found out he was nailing this bit of blond fluff he met at the gym. Another jock like him.”  
  
Neji furrowed his brows. “What do you mean another jock like him? You’re a jock.”  
  
“You take that back”, Shikamaru quipped. “I am an  _athlete._  They are  _jocks._  There’s a difference.”  
  
Neji was confused. “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one.”  
  
“Well you have athletes: swimmers, gymnasts, runners, cyclists and the like”, Shikamaru clarified. “And then you have jocks: baseball players, football players, basketball players, you get the idea. The difference is in the mentality. While all of us are athletes in theory, team sports are high-profile concepts that tend to breed a very pronounced, more severe egoism by comparison. My ex is a football player. His new blond squeeze is a baseball player. Jocks.”  
  
“Wow.” Neji was sure he’d never heard anything like that before. He wondered briefly what the hell being a jock could possibly have to do with nailing Shikamaru in every conceivable position at every possible opportunity.   
  
Neji could only draw one conclusion: Shikamaru’s ex was an idiot.  
  
“He was a fool to give you up, Shikamaru”, Neji declared.  
  
Shikamaru smiled. “He didn’t. He didn’t want me to go. I left him after he suggested the three of us play house together.”  
  
 _Bold recovery attempt._  “So it was he who wanted the harem”, Neji assessed.  
  
Shikamaru nodded. “Apparently I wasn’t enough for him. But that was too much for me. I’m done with it now.”  
  
“How long has it been?” Neji asked.  
  
Shikamaru scratched his head as he thought about it. “Eleven months.”  
  
 _That long?_  
  
“Has it been lonely?” Neji asked.  
  
Shikamaru shrugged. “It’s had its moments.”  
  
Neji bit his lip. “You know, for a moment there I thought you and Zabuza were keeping each other company.”  
  
Shikamaru smiled and shook his head. “No, nothing like that.”  
  
He looked at Neji then, admiring the lush hair that fell around his shoulders and his eyes, moonlit orbs that seemed to say so much. Did he know how beautiful he was?  
  
Neji returned Shikamaru’s stare.  _I want to hump you into submission._  
  
“What are you thinking about?” Neji ventured.  
  
“Your face”, Shikamaru answered. “Your eyes. You’re beautiful, Neji. When I look at you I am reminded of things that make me happy.”  
  
Shikamaru shook his head, covering his face with one hand as he blushed once more. “God, I can’t believe I’m saying this to you.”  
  
“Well, hell, don’t let that stop you”, Neji responded, smiling.  
  
Shikamaru lowered his hand. “It’s just that you seem so frustrated all the time. I’ve often wondered if there was something I could do to help.”  
  
 _God, if you only knew._  “Why did you never say anything?” Neji asked.  
  
Shikamaru snorted. “Come on, Neji. You’re all business, all the time. I didn’t think you’d appreciate the gesture.”  
  
Shikamaru paused. “Besides, there was no way for me to be sure that I was offering my help out of an earnest desire to help you and not to get a chance to be close to you.”  
  
 _Oh God. Oh God. Oh God._  
  
“You have a…crush on me?” Neji asked, eyebrows raised.  
  
Shikamaru nodded. “Ever since the day I first saw you. I took one look at you and that was it.”  
  
 _Oh God. Oh God. Oh God._  
  
Neji lowered his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. Shikamaru wanted him. Holy God in Heaven, for the past year a hot gymnast had been crushing on Neji and he didn’t know it. And it wasn’t that he didn’t want Gaara, he just didn’t want Gaara.  
  
Neji wondered which sin he had committed to earn this particular penance.  
  
 _Fuck me._  
  
“Neji, say something.”  
  
The words were spoken casually, but the anxiety was unmistakable.  
  
Neji looked up at Shikamaru then, the lust in his eyes impossible to misinterpret. In fact, it was almost threatening.   
  
 _You are going to get fucked so much._  
  
“We need to settle the tab.”  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru went to the bathroom while Neji went to the bar and covered the tab. It was the least he could do for his team, considering what he was going to get to do with Shikamaru.  
  
He waited at the bar until Shikamaru came out.  
  
“Ready?” Neji asked.  
  
Shikamaru nodded.  
  
They both moved impatiently toward the door and went out. The night air was blissfully cool against their flushed and sweaty skin.  
  
“Ah”, Neji exclaimed, sighing deeply. They hadn’t emerged from that stuffy, smoke-filled bar for three hours.  
  
“Your vehicle or mine?” Shikamaru asked.  
  
“It will have to be yours”, Neji answered. “My car is being serviced.”  
  
Shikamaru jerked his head toward the parking lot. “My truck is over there.”  
  
They walked over to the truck, bodies thrumming with the sheer adrenaline of heightened anticipation. Shikamaru opened the passenger side before the anxious Neji pinned him against the side of his truck and melded their mouths together in one seamless movement.  
  
 _Oh God. Oh God. Oh God._  
  
The kiss was fierce, full of and impatience and curiosity and lust. Neji grabbed two handfuls of Shikamaru’s ass and thrust his erection against him, eliciting a moan from the smaller man.  
  
“I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t imagining this”, Neji explained. “God you feel good.”  
  
Shikamaru arched his body against Neji’s in response. “Get in the truck”, he told him.  
  
Neji did as he was told.   
  
Shikamaru got into the driver’s side and closed the door. He looked at Neji, who snaked a hand behind his neck and pulled him into another urgent kiss.  
  
Shikamaru broke their kiss. “Buckle up”, he said, as he did the same, started his truck and drove off.  
  
Neji watched Shikamaru as he drove, admiring the man for being able to turn a polo shirt and a pair of chinos into something profoundly sexual.  
  
Neji was some kind of riled up. The more he looked at Shikamaru, the hornier he got. He had the tease of the man’s taste on his lips, and it made him want more. Neji wanted to reach over and undo Shikamaru’s pants, pull out his cock and suck him off while he drove them wherever they were going, but he didn’t think they’d survive the resulting crash.  
  
So he reached over and palmed Shikamaru’s erection instead, pleased when it twitched under his hand.  
  
“Neji”, Shikamaru pleaded.  
  
 _Yes. Make that voice again,_  Neji thought to himself.  
  
“I’ll go slowly, I promise”, he told Shikamaru. “It’s your own damn fault, you know.”  
  
He stroked Shikamaru’s cock through his pants. “You’re so hot here”, he purred. “How much longer until we get where we’re going?”  
  
“A few more minutes”, Shikamaru answered.  
  
“I’m not sure I can wait that long.”  
  
Neji unbuckled his seat belt and slid closer to Shikamaru, still groping his twitching cock. “Pull over.”  
  
“Why?” Shikamaru dared to ask, trying to focus on the road.  
  
“I need you Shikamaru. Please.”  
  
Shikamaru shuddered at Neji’s plea. “But you promised you’d go slowly.”  
  
 _Dammit._  “Indeed I did”, the older man relented, sliding over to his seat.  
  
Neji buckled his seatbelt and reached for Shikamaru’s clothed erection once more, enjoying the feel of it moving within its confines.  
  
“Drive faster”, he told him, and Shikamaru laughed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru pulled into a parking space in front of his apartment building and shut off the engine. Before he could get his seatbelt the whole way off Neji was pressing his body into his from the seat beside him, biting the shell of his ear and groping him shamelessly.  
  
“Finally”, Neji purred. “I thought we were on our way to the Emerald City.”  
  
“ _Ah,_  you can’t get there from here without a house and a cyclone”, Shikamaru answered before Neji’s mouth closed over his.  
  
Neji tugged at Shikamaru’s hips. “Straddle me”, he mumbled against the smaller man’s mouth.  
  
“Not here. Upstairs”, Shikamaru mumbled in response. “All you want.”  
  
Shikamaru pried himself from Neji’s impatient grip and reached for the door’s handle. “Let’s go”, he told his boss.  
  
Both men got out of the truck. Neji looked around as he walked behind Shikamaru. The apartment building was bigger than he expected, he supposed, and looked well maintained, at least in the dark. Neji didn’t mind the curious glances or the two flights of well-lit stairs he had to walk up to get to Shikamaru’s apartment since it gave him an excellent view of the younger man’s tight round ass.  
  
“Now, mind you”, Shikamaru stated as he slipped the key into the lock, “I wasn’t expecting company tonight.”  
  
The door was opened and the two men walked inside. Shikamaru heard the door slam right before he was pinned against it in the darkness of the room.  
  
“Alone at last”, Neji purred, leaning in for a kiss.  
  
Shikamaru stopped him. “Wait”, he said. “Not that I’m complaining, but you’ve been going 100 miles per hour since we left the bar. Do you need to go to the bathroom? Do you want something to drink?”  
  
“You know what I want”, Neji answered him, leaning in again.  
  
Shikamaru held his ground. “Well let me tell you what  _I_  want. I want to have a glass of water and a shower.”  
  
Neji smiled a sinful smile. “A shower sounds—“  
  
 _“Alone”,_  Shikamaru interjected, and Neji pouted.  
  
“Are you kidding? You’re going to make me wait until you get out of the shower?” the older man whined. “That’ll take days!”  
  
Shikamaru made a face. “Stop pouting”, he told him, pushing him away gently and reaching over to flip on a nearby light switch, illuminating the room.  
  
While Neji adjusted to his surroundings, Shikamaru emptied all his pockets and set the contents on a nearby table. Then he removed his watch and took off his shoes.  
  
Neji watched as Shikamaru walked over and stood facing a wall. He hesitated for a few seconds before bending forward into a precision handstand and then slowly lowering his legs to 180 degrees.  
  
Neji’s jaw dropped. The sight of Shikamaru standing on his hands doing a split midair had the older man’s cock jumping double-time.  
  
 _Oh dear God in Heaven._  
  
Shikamaru raised his legs again and lowered himself to a standing position on the carpeted floor.  
  
He turned to look at Neji then. “Keep yourself entertained; I won’t be long”, he told him, chuckling at the man’s open-mouthed expression as he walked toward the kitchen.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru flipped on the light as he walked into the kitchen and yanked the tie from his hair, freeing it to fall in loose black waves to his shoulders. He tossed the tie on the counter and massaged his scalp with one hand as he reached into a cupboard for a glass and set it on the counter. He grabbed a pitcher of cold water from the refrigerator and filled the glass, and then picked it up and gulped down every drop, letting out a long ‘ah’ when he was done.   
  
He could hear his guest moving around in the other room as he refilled the glass and replaced the pitcher in the refrigerator.  
  
Shikamaru thought about the evening as he sipped the glass of water. He thought about Lee and Tenten, wondering where and how they were. He hoped that lusty kiss in the bar had been a turning point for them.  
  
He should probably call Zabuza. The man had a tendency to worry. Besides, if anyone had an update on Tenten it would be him.  
  
Shikamaru set the glass on the counter, intending to go back to the foyer to retrieve the cell phone he left on the table there when Neji walked into the kitchen, said cell phone in hand.  
  
“It’s vibrating”, Neji told him, handing him the phone.  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
Shikamaru took the phone. A check of the caller ID revealed Zabuza’s name.  
  
Shikamaru turned away from Neji as he answered his phone. “Shikamaru.”  
  
“It’s Zabuza.”  
  
“Everything good?”  
  
“Yes. And you?”  
  
“Yes.” Shikamaru paused. Neji was behind him, reaching around for the glass on the counter in front of him. Shikamaru could feel the heat radiating from Neji’s body against his back.  
  
“Have you heard anything from Lee or Tenten?” Shikamaru asked, trying not to let Neji’s fingers playing in his hair distract him.  
  
“Lee called from Tenten’s cell. She’s with him now.”  
  
“Good, I think”, Shikamaru answered. “I guess we’ll know either way soon enough.”  
  
Strong arms snaked around Shikamaru’s waist and pressed him possessively against Neji’s hard, hot body. Shikamaru expelled a hard breath at the arousing sensation.  
  
“You’re busy”, Zabuza declared.  
  
 _Shit. Busted._  “As it happens”, Shikamaru responded, biting his lip.  
  
Zabuza paused. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
A tone signaled the end of the phone call.  
  
Shikamaru closed his phone and set it on the counter, allowing his head to fall back against Neji’s shoulder. Damn, the man felt good.  
  
“That Zabuza is a man of few words”, Neji said. “He seemed annoyed there at the end. Are you sure he doesn’t have feelings for you?”  
  
Shikamaru chuckled. “Why, are you afraid of a little competition?” he asked.  
  
“I’m just saying. He did call you, after all.”  
  
“He already knew where everyone else was.” Shikamaru turned in Neji’s arms, wrapping his own around Neji’s neck. Neji quickly anchored his hands against the round globes of Shikamaru’s ass and pressed his own erection against his.  
  
“I’ve never seen you with your hair down before”, Neji declared in a low voice. “It’s sexy.”  
  
“Not half as sexy as yours”, Shikamaru purred.  
  
He had thrown caution to the wind tonight and revealed his feelings for Neji, breaking his own rule against dating co-workers. Now the two men were alone together, and Shikamaru found it liberating. Tonight seemed to the younger man to be one for stepping out of comfort zones that, for the people involved, had been anything but comforting.   
  
Shikamaru gently pressed his face against Neji’s throat and inhaled. Beyond the smell of alcohol and smoke was Neji.  
  
“Shikamaru”, Neji called.  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“You said something about a shower before”, Neji said.  
  
“I did.”  
  
“Well you need to hurry. My dick is wearing a hole into my pants.”  
  
Shikamaru chuckled and planted a light kiss on Neji’s lips. “There’s another bathroom in the other bedroom if you need it”, he told him as he walked out of the kitchen.  
  
Neji watched him go, shaking his head.  
  
 _You are going to get fucked so much._  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Shikamaru took a shower, taking more time than usual in honor of the occasion. He opened the door of the steamy bathroom wide and walked out when he was suddenly pinned face-forward against the wall next to it by a hard, hot, naked body, an ‘oof’ being forced from his throat on impact.  
  
“You said you weren’t going to take long”, Neji’s voice at his ear told him as he ran a hand down the man’s body. “I almost had to bring myself off in the other bedroom.”  
  
Neji reached around to the front of Shikamaru’s towel and untucked it, then stood back enough to pull it away from the man’s waist and toss it aside.   
  
“Your ass is a masterpiece”, Neji commented, running a hand over it. “You should just be naked all the time.”  
  
Neji ran a lubed finger from his other hand down the crack of Shikamaru’s ass. “Tell me what you do with the stash of porn and sex toys I found in your spare bedroom”, he commanded.  
  
“Nothing”, Shikamaru grunted, further aroused by the feel of Neji’s hands on his body. “Those belong to my parents.”  
  
“Ah”, Neji responded, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He forced the thought of Shikamaru’s parents—of  _anyone’s_  parents—using the array of toys he’d found out of his mind and pushed that finger into his pink pucker.  
  
Shikamaru extended his arms above his head against the wall in front of him and widened his stance in submission as he arched into that finger. “More”, he breathed.  
  
“Oh you’ll get it, you cocktease”, Neji told him as he pumped the finger. “This is only pre-game. You’re going to spend the night showing me more of your erotic gymnastics.”  
  
“Oh,  _God!”_  Shikamaru whined as Neji pulled out his finger and re-entered with two. It stung and he flinched but he wanted it, couldn’t get enough of it. His cock was hard and making pre-cum trails against his abdomen.  
  
“Have you ever been fucked like this? Up against the wall by some guy impatient to get inside you?” Neji asked, using his other hand to fondle Shikamaru’s balls.  
  
Shikamaru shook his head.  
  
“I bet you drove your teammates crazy. Do you know I dreamed of taking you like this?” Neji confessed. “Sometimes during the day I go to the men’s room and sit in a stall and stroke myself off as I imagine you beneath me, squealing as I’m thrusting my happy cock deep into this tight ass of yours. What do you think of that?”  
  
“Neji  _please”,_  Shikamaru responded. He was begging, he knew. He couldn’t help it. Neji was tormenting him, and it was making his cock weep.  
  
Neji pulled his two fingers out of that tight heat, and then forced three of them back inside. He alternately pumped and crooked them, galvanized by the noises Shikamaru was making.   
  
“There are laws against some of the stuff I’ve imagined doing to you, Shikamaru.”  
  
 _“Ah!”_  the smaller man squealed as his prostate was stroked. He was barely cognizant of what Neji was saying. He was overwhelmed by sensations he hadn’t felt in far too long. He wanted Neji to fuck him, hard, and he wanted to come screaming the man’s name.  
  
“Neji”, he breathed. “No more teasing. Fuck me now!”  
  
“Or what, Shikamaru?” Neji asked, pulling his fingers from the man’s opening.  
  
Neji took hold of his own already lubed erection and rubbed it against Shikamaru’s waiting hole.  
  
“Neji  _please!”_  Shikamaru begged without shame as he arched into that hard cock. He was completely at the man’s mercy.  
  
Neji smiled at Shikamaru’s unconditional submission.  
  
“You know, you beg like you’re strung out on dick, even though you’re tight like a virgin. You like being bottom but you don’t put out for just anybody, do you?”  
  
Neji lined his cock up with Shikamaru’s hole. “From now on this ass belongs to me.”  
  
Neji forced himself inside of Shikamaru and didn’t let up until his balls were resting against Shikamaru’s ass, forcing a series of screams from the man’s throat.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
“Son of a bitch!” Neji growled as he stood behind Shikamaru, hands gripping the smaller man’s hips and cock buried all the way inside his ass. It was so blissfully hot and tight in there. There was no way he would be able to remain still for long.  
  
“What the fuck are you waiting for?  _Move,_  you crazy bastard!” Shikamaru cried.  
  
He was in shock. He had only ever seen Neji’s erection in his pants, and had no good frame of reference until he’d been penetrated by the thing. While Neji wasn’t in the Rock Lee range, he was certainly longer and thicker than Shikamaru. He was full, being stretched far beyond the limits of Neji’s three fingers, and in some pain.  
  
“Ah, baby I  _can’t!_  Your ass is squeezing me, I don’t  _believe_  how fucking tight it is in here.”  
  
Neji laid a palm against Shikamaru’s back. “Arch out for me”, he told him.  
  
Shikamaru bent his body forward a little, arms braced against the wall.  
  
“That’s it”, Neji told him, replacing his hand on Shikamaru’s hip and adjusting his own stance. “This one will have to be a freebie, I’m in self-destruct mode. I’ve got about ten seconds.”  
  
Shikamaru shook his head. “I don’t care, Neji just do it!”  
  
“I’ll make it up to you”, Neji promised.  
  
He withdrew until their bodies were nearly disconnected again before shoving himself forward. He increased his pace, losing himself to the sensation until finally sounding a battle cry as his eyes rolled back and he released himself inside his lover.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
 _Son of a bitch._  
  
The sensation—no, the experience—of coming inside Shikamaru was nothing short of a high. Neji rested his forehead against the smaller man’s back.  
  
“You are beautiful, Shikamaru”, he panted. “You have a body crafted with godlike intention.”  
  
He reached around for Shikamaru’s still-hard cock.  
  
“I want to be the man in your life”, he told him, stroking him firmly. “I want to spend our nights together paying homage to the fact that you exist.”  
  
Shikamaru lifted his head. He could feel Neji’s heated cock and cum inside him. Sweat ran down his face.  
  
“You’re…on the rebound”, he breathed as Neji stroked him. “How can you… _aah,_  be certain this is…what you want?”  
  
“I’m certain”, Neji answered him. “I’ve wanted this for a while. My last relationship was a friendship with benefits deal. I called him when I needed to let off some steam.”  
  
“You must not…have called him…very often”, Shikamaru couldn’t help but remark, and Neji chuckled.  
  
“That’s one of the reasons why we broke it off. It was obvious I wasn’t into it.”  
  
Neji closed his eyes and inhaled the intoxicating scent of their sex. “I’m not talking about another friendship with benefits, Shikamaru. I intend to take good care of you.”  
  
Shikamaru made a strangled noise in response to Neji’s comment that galvanized him. He sped up the movement of his hand, smiling as his own still-buried cock hardened again to the sexy sound of Shikamaru’s increasing arousal.  
  
“I love those sex noises you make”, he told Shikamaru. “Come for me, baby. I know you’re ready. Christen my hand. I want to taste you.”  
  
Neji pressed his erection into Shikamaru’s cum-filled hole and licked the sweat from his back as he stroked him fiercely, not stopping until Shikamaru did as he was told with a shout of Neji’s name.  
  
Neji reluctantly pulled himself away from Shikamaru’s spent body and caught him before he fell to the floor, hefting him up into his arms bridal style and putting him into his bed.  
  
“Don’t go anywhere”, he told Shikamaru as he licked his hand clean of the man’s cum.  
  
Shikamaru watched with half-lidded eyes as a naked and erect Neji repositioned the large rectangle mirror that sat in one corner of the bedroom and brought in a dining room chair to set in front of the mirror. Neji made a few more trips for water, aspirin and lube before returning to stand next to the bed where Shikamaru lay watching him.  
  
“Take this”, he told Shikamaru, extending a glass of water and two aspirin to him.  
  
Shikamaru dutifully complied.  
  
“Now come with me”, Neji said, placing the glass on the bedside table and extending his hand to Shikamaru.  
  
Purposeful eyes watched the smaller man as he accepted Neji’s hand and got out of bed, moving them slowly toward the staged chair and mirror.  
  
Neji sat down in the chair and led Shikamaru around until he was standing between his legs in front of him.  
  
“Earlier in your truck you told me you would straddle me as much as I wanted you to”, Neji told Shikamaru.  
  
“Indeed I did”, Shikamaru answered with a smile, moving into straddle position over Neji’s erection.  
  
Firm hands guided Shikamaru as he sank down, impaling himself to a chorus of their pleasured grunts. God, he loved that feeling. Neji was so deep. They were so fucking good together, it was almost scary.  
  
 _“Ah,_  I could show you a couple of different moves from this position”, he told Neji.  
  
Neji smiled a sinful smile. “Like what?” he asked.  
  
They went on that way all night long, and after a series of creative and sometimes arduous location and position changes finally collapsed on each other from sheer exhaustion.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
The far-away sound of a telephone ringing endlessly was slowly dragging Shikamaru out of a sound sleep. He lay motionless waiting for the phone to stop ringing so he could fall asleep again.  
  
He became aware of the fact that he was snuggling comfortably into a warm body before he even realized it was morning.  
  
Shikamaru opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to an unexpected amount of light in the room. A pale column of throat connected to a solid expanse of lightly hairy male chest filled his field of vision.  
  
That’s when he noticed the smell.  
  
“Shit”, he grunted in recognition as thoughts of the previous evening flooded his mind.  
  
He craned his head to look at the face of the man who was asleep on his side of the bed. Dear God, Neji had the face of an angel--pale, round and smooth, without any blemishes at all. Like porcelain. Dark eyelashes that went on for days. And that mouth, the delicate mouth that had Shikamaru moaning and screaming until all hours.  
  
The man was still asleep. How was that possible with all that ringing going on? And he looked peaceful. Relaxed. Sated.  
  
The thought made Shikamaru smile.  
  
And still the phone rang.  
  
Shikamaru climbed over Neji with a pained grunt and reached for it, relieved when he finally grabbed it.  
  
He fell back to the bed and put the phone to his ear.  
  
“This better be fucking good”, he growled into the phone. Shikamaru’s throat was as raw and sore as the rest of him was.  
  
Silence.  
  
There was silence on the other end of the line.  
  
“Who the hell is this?” Shikamaru rasped. The silence in the room was deafening now, after all that ringing.  
  
“I’m looking for Shikamaru Nara”, a voice responded.  
  
It was Zabuza’s voice.  
  
“Dude, it’s me”, Shikamaru responded.  
  
He rolled over to the far side of the bed with his back to Neji.  
  
“Everything good?” Zabuza asked.  
  
Shikamaru paused. “Well, yes and no.”  
  
“Does that mean you won’t be coming in today?” Zabuza asked.  
  
“Why, is someone looking for me?”  
  
“No. But the project manager hasn’t been able to get a hold of Neji all morning.”  
  
 _Shit. Busted._  Wait—all morning?  
  
“Z, what time is it?”  
  
“Twenty to eleven.”  
  
Shikamaru’s eyes grew wide.  _Holy fuck me._  
  
“Do you know where he is?” Zabuza asked.  
  
Shikamaru opened his mouth to respond when a hand pulled the phone away from his ear from behind.  
  
And another wrapped itself around Shikamaru’s cock.  
  
“Zabuza, it’s Neji”, the raspy, sexy, post-coital morning-after voice spoke into the phone behind him. Shikamaru closed his eyes as a shudder ran down the length of his spine and arched into the hand that played with his growing erection.  
  
“I’ll give her a call very soon, but if you happen to talk to the project manager again before that, tell her I’ll be working from home today. And if anyone asks, Shikamaru called in sick.”  
  
Neji removed his hand from Shikamaru’s cock to wrap it around his waist, pulling him back against his own morning erection.  
  
“Did everyone else make it in this morning?” he asked Zabuza.  
  
“No.”  
  
Neji wasn’t surprised. In fact, he was glad. “It’s just as well. If anyone asks, just tell them they called in. I’ve got to go now, but listen--don’t stick around that place too long today. It’s Friday.”  
  
Neji pushed a button to end the call and tossed the receiver near the foot of the bed.  
  
He put his mouth to Shikamaru’s ear. “Good morning”, he rasped.  
  
“It is”, Shikamaru responded, enjoying the feel of Neji’s morning wood pressed against him. He ground his ass into it, expelling a hard breath when Neji pushed back.  
  
“Don’t do that”, Neji warned.  
  
“Or what?” Shikamaru challenged.  
  
“Or it will be Monday before you’re walking unassisted”, he promised.  
  
“You say that like it’s a bad thing”, Shikamaru returned.  
  
“Well it’s a brand-new game without lube and if I recall”, Neji said, adjusting their positions until Shikamaru was face-to-face with him again, “we used it all last night.”  
  
“And quickly”, Shikamaru responded. “Like one of us was eating it.”  
  
Neji slipped a finger between the globes of Shikamaru’s ass, ghosting the tip over his sore and reddened hole. “One of us was”, he responded, and Shikamaru laughed.  
  
“You do realize you just announced to our entire team that we’re sleeping together”, Shikamaru said as he ran his fingers through Neji’s long hair.  
  
“They were going to know anyway, Shikamaru. It was never my intention to hide us.”  
  
“What about your job? I am one of your subordinates, you know.”  
  
Neji made a face. “Fuck it. We’ll go back to work and resume our professional duties. I’ve been letting that job drain the life out of me anyway. If they decide they have a problem with our relationship, then I’ll quit and find something else. I’m just not going to stress over it, not like I have been.”  
  
Neji sighed. “It’s time I found me again.”  
  
Shikamaru smiled. He definitely liked what he was hearing.   
  
“Can I help?” he asked.  
  
Neji planted a light kiss on Shikamaru’s lips. “You already have”, he told him, pulling him into a hug that was eagerly returned.  
  
“And I can’t thank you enough”, Neji finished, thinking to himself that, as successes go, this one beat them all.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Zabuza sat across from Haku in the booth at the diner, an empty plate in front of him where a spinach mushroom omelet had been. The sun was high in the sky and the place was bustling with the lunch rush.  
  
“So…do you think things at work will change much now that Shikamaru is your boss’s sex slave?” Haku asked, sipping on a milkshake.  
  
“Too soon to tell”, Zabuza answered. “He did seem a lot happier over the phone this morning, though.”  
  
“Why wouldn’t he be?” Haku beamed. “I mean, Shikamaru isn’t my type but that doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s great. Neji is lucky to have him.”  
  
He paused, setting the empty milkshake glass on the table. “So… did you ever get around to telling Neji and Shikamaru that we had to bail Lee and Tenten out of jail last night?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N** : LOL, we must never allow Rock Lee and Tenten to drink together again.
> 
> So, how do you feel about this ‘uke-fied’ Shikamaru and his more emotionally available Neji? I thought I’d try something a little different with this fic. I hope you enjoyed it. ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> A Russian translation of this fanfic can be found [here](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6184853/1/Something-Has-Got-to-Give-Russian-Vesion).


End file.
